The better team won on Saturday night as the Hawks dropped their season opener to the NY Rangers. The Hawks controlled much of the first period but did not create an advantage on the score sheet as the game was tied after the opening frame. The Blue Shirts were impressive in the final 40 minutes as their defensive zone coverage and forechecking was strong. The other major difference in the contest was Henrik Lundqvist, who was by far the better goalie.

I am still waiting for an impressive effort from Cristobal Huet. Huet has flaws like every other goal keeper but unfortunately his shortcomings so far have surfaced too often. Teams look to exploit Huet’s glove hand and will often shoot high to that side. Another weakness appears to be his ability to control the puck when it is at his feet. That inability leads to unnecessary goal mouth scrambles as Huet made the easier saves also appear difficult last night. Lastly he sometimes goes down too quickly and doesn’t appear “big” in net. Although he was not very sharp he did come up with a coupe of nice saves but all in all his effort was subpar.

The first Ranger goal wasn’t all Huet's fault. Jack Skille, who otherwise did play a good game was a bit tardy on his defensive zone coverage. There may have been a defenseman out of position too. In reality Huet left a long rebound gift which went right to Wade Redden as he converted his chance unlike many Hawk forwards throughout the game. Huet seemed to glare at young Skille following that goal but the first fault belonged to him not the rookie winger.

Turnovers or poor coverage led to the Rangers other goals but on at least two of three scores Huet should have made the stop. If Huet could have kept the Hawks within one goal they might have had a chance to steal a point. Instead it was the Rangers strong play or Lundqvist in particular which never allowed the Hawks to gain momentum.

The Hawks won the faceoff battle throughout the night and did generate enough chances to score more than two goals. They often missed the net or were victimized by a bouncing puck which also cut short a few of their chances. Unfortunately for the Hawks it was Lundqvist who always came up big when the Rangers slipped. If the Hawks would have had a one or two goal lead after the opening period the outcome may have been different… but it wasn’t to be last night.

There is no time to sulk as it is onto Washington to face the Capitals. It only took one game but there is somewhat of a goalie controversy already. Will Huet come back to face his old team or will Denis Savard start Khabibulin?

I am not sure what the Hawks coach will do but he is in a no win situation in some ways. If he starts Khabibulin, who didn’t participate in any preseason games, and he appears rusty Savard’s judgment will be questioned. If Khabibulin does get the nod and plays a strong game, Savard will have to deal with more questions afterward.

If the decision were mine I would start Khabibulin against the Caps.

Huet has yet to look sharp and the Hawks start the season with three games in four days. If Khabibulin is still rusty now another two days of practice may not matter, he needs to see some game action. If Nik does look good against the Caps and the Hawks win I would stay with him for Monday’s game with Nashville. A few more days of just practice could benefit Huet who doesn’t appear confident.

Savard will have to play the hand that has been dealt to him, but one can already see this could be tricky. There is a reason why most good teams have a true number one goalie and don’t rotate their keepers game to game. The reason being is that it seldom seems to work for very long.

Unfortunately it appears the Hawks kept their opening night injury bug streak alive. Last year it was Havlat who suffered a shoulder injury late in the first game. This time it was Niklas Hjalmarsson who played less than four minutes last night. He appeared to get crunched just before leaving the ice in the first period and did not return afterward. Savard said it is an upper body injury which would be evaluated further today.

As a result, the Hawks almost played the entire game short two defensemen. For unknown reasons Jordan Hendry saw only 4:43 of action against the Rangers. I have a suspicion it may have had something to do with being on the ice for New York’s first tally. Mike Haviland is running the defense and chose to rotate only Campbell, Keith, Seabrook and Sopel. Keith and Campbell were on the ice for over 29 minutes each and we will see tonight if the Hawk defenders have enough left in the tank for the Capitals.

The Hawks appeared to have the puck on a string a couple times last night. They did have 32 shots on goal but often missed the net when in close. In buildings which aren’t known for great ice surfaces like the Garden simple is often better, just get the puck on goal. The good news is that the Hawks managed to create the chances. Unfortunately they either missed the net or were thwarted by the sharp effort from Lundqvist.

Give the Rangers credit as they were tighter on defense and played the Hawks in a physical fashion as well. If Lundqvist can stay healthy the Rangers will have a good a year.

The Hawks will be facing an angry Capital team who will be performing on home ice for the first time this season. The Caps fell behind 3-0 last night to the Thrashers and did battle back only to lose 7-4. Interestingly their high priced UFA signing of the summer Jose Theodore gave up 4 goals on 17 shots and was pulled from the game.

Will it be Huet in net against his replacement Theodore tonight? I say no…but we will see.



Al’s Shots


It is sometimes difficult to tell on TV but it didn’t look like the Rangers had 44 hits on the Hawks. It didn’t appear to me the Hawks had 31 hits on NY either. There are not many NHL games played with a total of 75 hits.

Keeping track of hits in the NHL varies from city to city. There is a different standard for what actually counts as a check on some nights. The same can be said for other stats like Giveaways and Takeaways. Just realize there is not a standardized system in place as counting shots on goal can be somewhat subjective as well.

Regardless if there were actually a total of 75 hits last night or 60 it was a clean physical game.

The Hawks will have to regroup and play a Rangers type game against the Capitals…physical and tight checking.

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Savard has decided to start Khabibulin against the Capitals. Hjalmarsson is out with a rib injury and is game to game.

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